One day a new couple to town arrived at church.
Out the front of the church was a huge sign that said everyone welcome.
As they got out of their car some others in the car park, said, "good morning, how are you!"
And walked with them to the front door of the church and said look after church we have coffee and something to eat in the hall over their.
They were then greeted at the door by two happy people
and as they were given the bulletin,
they were told that the entire service would be displayed on the powerpoint.
As they sat down in walked a rough looking man, he looked as if he hadn’t shaven or showered.
As he sat next to them he said, "good morning, welcome!"
Then as another person walked in, then leant over to the rough looking character, and they said, "How are things going, Bill?"
The worship began.
It was a mixture of hymns and songs.
The language used in the bible readings, hymns and liturgy did not require a doctrate of theology.
And the sermon was understandable but not light on.
Then as the couple were leaving they were again invited to the hall for coffee and something to eat.
The lady hesitated beacuse she didn’t drink coffee, however decided to go because of how friendly they were.
To her surprise she was offered an arrange of refreshments, including her favourite herbal tea.
This congregation had obviously thought about being a welcoming congregation, no matter who came into their presence.
Today we are going to explore this idea of being welcoming,
and how the arms of the church,
our arms can open wider to include everyone.
However it is important for us to get a clear perspective in what it means to be a welcoming Christian community.
Over the last number of years,
an incredible amount of energy has been spent in congregations around the world,
to help them be more welcoming.
Some have done it …others have failed
Some congregations have become very welcoming but have lost their Christian identity.
Others, unfortunately are still not very welcoming.
So where do we start as a welcoming Christian community?
We need to be clear on what basis we exist.
In other words, what are welcoming people to!
So our starting point should always be;
what is our relationship with God?
And the reading from Romans 3 today highlights this.
From verse 23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
In other words,
not one of us is qualified or has the ability to be considered good enough for God on our own merits…
On our no one can never live up to God standards.
Not one of us is good enough to be here!!
Without God none of us, including me, are good enough to be called a Christian!!
We need to remember that without God we would be like a sailor stranded in the ocean after their boat sank.
We would be drifting in the ocean.
No matter how hard we swam.
We could never reach our destination.
As Christians we always require God’s help.
And yet God does welcome us!
Now consider what this means for you and how you relate to each other?
How you relate to those who are new in your life?
Consider how this affects how we relate to people on the fringe of this congregation.
Consider how this affects our relationship to other people who are yet to know the Jesus we know?
First of all it does not mean we do nothing, simply because God will do it all for us!!
Listen again to verse 31, this time I am reading from the New Living translation bible
"Well then, if we emphasise faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfil the law."
Each one of us is called to be God representatives in the places God has placed us.
We are God’s representatives here this morning.
We are God’s representatives when we are at home.
We are God’s representatives when we are at work, at school, in fact anywhere we go.
And remember being God’s representative.
God gives us help!!!
He gives us help to show love to Him and to show our love to EVERYONE around us.
He does this in many ways.
He gives us a community here, where we can and should support each other.
A community where can also learn from Him.
And a community where he constantly is assuring us that he has accepted each one of us through His son Jesus.
Think about how we are and can reflect this in our lives?
And this lead us to a second thing we should think about from Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
If not one person is good enough to be called a Christian by themselves,
and we all rely on God,
then everyone is on the same level playing level.
God views everyone exactly the same.
So no matter what sins you have committed,
no matter how good or bad you have been,
from God’s perspective He treats everyone the same.
For some of us, at times can be pretty hard to face.
Because we live in world that judges.
It judges everything.
We live in a community that attempts to create heroes and villains by judging each other,
and by comparing people and their performance against each other.
God on the other hand looks at us and says,
we are all the same.
We all need his help,
otherwise we are destined to a life without him
and for everyone this help comes through His son, Jesus Christ!
As verse 24 highlights, again reading from the New Living translation
Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.
And this is how everyone is made right with God.
This is how we are right with God.
And this is how even the person you believe is the least deserving can be right with God.
God has created this community here for the purpose
to help rescue us,
to rescue all people.
And from God’s perspective that means we are here so that through this faith community God can rescue anyone and everyone.
So as God’s Christian community we are God’s welcoming party to everyone.
Now this may sound daunting.
How on earth, can we welcome everyone.
Well some of you may heard this story.
While walking down the beach, a man saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it in the ocean. As he came closer, he saw thousands of starfish the tide had washed up onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during low tide, the starfish were dying. He observed a young boy picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean. After watching the seemingly futile effort, the observer said, "There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to save all of them. There are simply too many. You can’t possibly save enough to make a difference. The young boy smiled as he picked up another starfish and tossed it back into the ocean. "It made a difference to that one," he replied. And by the way I’m not saving them…the water saves them all I’m doing them is helping them to get to the water.
And for each one of us,
we are like that little boy.
We probably don’t need to go too far, to find someone who needs to know about the Jesus we know.
To be rescued by the Jesus who has rescued us.
It is not our role to decide who needs or deserves God’s help.
We are here to welcome everyone we come across, with God’s love.
Both those we like and don’t like.
The rich and the poor.
And when we do this there are some things we should remember:
First…all our power comes from God.
Some people are tough to deal with aren’t they, especially when we mention Christianity?
Others are difficult people full stop!!
So our starting point to be welcoming is to lean on God, lean on Jesus.
Pray to him to help you…
Remember those two people I suggested you pray for last week.
For those who weren’t here I suggested that we each pray for two people we know,
that God would help us talk to them about the Jesus we know.
Likewise why don’t you ask God to help us be welcoming to them.
Now what does it mean to be welcoming in Jesus eyes.
When we read scripture we also learn how Jesus was welcoming.
Jesus welcomed everyone.
Children, the dregs of society, even the difficult Pharisees.
Jesus sat with these people…taught them, often forgave them, and helped them.
Secondly remember we don’t have to change anyone.
Noone has to change before they are welcome in this community.
Let me say that again, no one has to change before they can be welcomed into this community and into God’s presence!
Allow God to do the changing.
This means, we welcome people just as they are sins and all.
Sometimes we may need to even mention this to people,
you are welcome to come just as you are!!
Remember the reason why the church exists is so God can deal with sin.
So God can offer His forgiveness,
In a compassionate and caring way.
And through the church, God does this in many different ways.
He does it publicly in confession and absolution, in the bible readings, in the sermon, in the songs and in Holy Communion.
And as a church God also offers you private confession, either formally with a pastor.
We don’t have confessional boxes, but if there is a sin that is pestering you.
That you want God to deal with you are welcome to contact me for Private Confession.
And we are also told to confess our sins to each other.
In James chapter 5, 16 we are encouraged to listen to each other and to the burdens and sins we carry and forgive each other.
Not excuse each others sins, but forgiven them.
Now there is a huge difference.
Excusing someone’s sin is like saying it was ok that you did that because of this.
However forgiving is saying I did the wrong thing, but God will not hold this against you!
As a welcoming community, we don’t ignore sin.
We allow God to deal with sin…including our own sins.
And we allow God to do this in His time.
Thirdly in being a welcoming community we need to view things from other people’s perspective.
We should always be asking ourselves how welcoming are we, not from our perspective but from other people’s.
We should continually be asking ourselves and others
how can we be a more welcoming Christian community?
How can we constantly welcome people as Jesus welcomed people?
We need to consider what others see as welcoming and what they don’t, because the reality is we are not all the same.
Whilst something may have been ok 10 years ago, now days it may be considered not appropriate or acceptable.
Whilst some of us can put up with some things….for others these can be a real turn off.
There are some things that can actually discourage people to stay away from hearing God’s word and receiving his forgiveness.
One congregation I visited during seminary provided comfortable heating, brought not the most expensive, but a reasonable quality coffee and provided a variety options of beverages (because now days not everyone drinks tea or coffee), provided a secure children’s play area and reserved the back seats of the congregation for late comers and people with prams.
Whilst these appear only small things,
and on the surface they are not essential for hearing God’s word.
As I listened to some people in this congregation,
these were some of the things, that helped and encouraged them to regularly attend worship and other activities in the congregation.
That made going to church not a chore, but something that refreshed them.
So we need to listen and look out for the obstacles we maybe unintentionally placing in people’s path that hinders their relationship with us and more importantly hinders their relationship with God.
Why do we do this?
We do this because we are God’s community!
We belong to God!
The God who welcomes us and everyone!
And so through our congregations we reflect His welcome to the world,
because Jesus came to save everyone
and because without Jesus we would not be here ourselves.
AMEN
